1. SIR SONS IN RETIREMENT Computer User Group

2. UPGRADE OR BUY NEW Buy a new computer if: –Your computer is over 4 years old –You are thinking of buying a new Motherboard –You need more than three new internal components.

3. CLEAN UP THE OUTSIDE Phillips screwdriver, Compressed air, Machine oil, Q-tips, and Windex Blow accumulate dust OUT of your computer case. Remove fan(s) and heat sink and clean separately. Oil fan(s) Clean keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad

4. IS IT JUST ME OR IS MY COMPUTER GETTING SLOWER! BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER –Drive Image Of Your Operating System Files –Backup Files For Everything Else HAVE A PLAN TO RECOVER YOUR COMPUTER IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE

5. RECOVERY PLAN Safe Mode F8 Windows Recovery Console (for DOS users) (see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1757683,00.asp) Dr. Watson Recovery Disks –Backup Recovery Disks –Windows XP w/SP-2 Recovery Disk –Anti-virus App. Recovery Disk

8. RECOVERY PLAN Safe Mode F8 Windows Recovery Console (for DOS users) (see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1757683,00.asp) Dr. Watson Recovery Disks –Backup Recovery Disks –Windows XP w/SP-2 Recovery Disk (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1747010,00.asp) –Anti-virus App. Recovery Disk

9. INSTALL LATEST DRIVERS & DATA FILES Acronis True Image v8.0 (build 826) TUT v2.51 (build 2600) Anti-virus Program Anti-spyware Program Firewall Program Windows O/S Updates Printer Drivers CD/DVD Player/Burners External Hard Drives

12. STARTUP & RUNNING PROGRAMS CLOSE ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THE TASK BAR WAYS TO CHECK –3 rd Party Utility like The Ultimate Troubleshooter (www.answersthatwork.com) –msconfig Utility –Task Manager –System Information Utility

20. SERVICES CLOSE ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THE TASK BAR WAYS TO CHECK –Computer Management Utility –3 rd Party Utility like The Ultimate Troubleshooter (www.answersthatwork.com) –msconfig Utility –System Information Utility MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE SERVICE DOES & WHAT IT SUPPORTS BEFORE DISABLING IT.

27. ELIMINATE UNNEEDED FILES E-MAIL – Sent Message Attachments Housekeeping –Temp, History, Temporary Internet or Cache –Windows components, Installed programs, System Restore points

31. ELIMINATE UNWANTED FONTS

35. VIRTUAL MEMORY-PAGE FILE

38. CONVERT TO NTFS

41. DEFRAGE PAGE FILE PCSTATS http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1590&page=10

43. PageDefrag V2.3 Copyright © 2002-2004 Mark Russinovich Sysinternals – www.sysinternals.com Defragmenting c:\pagefile.sys: Fragments before: 81 Fragments after: 2 Defragmenting Hibernation File:

44. SCAN DISK SCAN FOR VIRUSES WITH A CURRENT SOFTWARE PROGRAM SCAN FOR SPYWARE WITH TWO OR MORE CURRENT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS CLEAN OUT THE REGISTRY LASTLY, EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN

45. SCANDISK OR ERROR CHECKER WINDOWS 9.X AND ME RUN A THOROUGH SCAN DISK WINDOWS 2000/XP RUN ERROR CHECKER

48. DEFRAG

49. OTHER THOUGHTS? MODIFYING BIOS OVERCLOCKING

50. SIR SONS IN RETIREMENT Computer User Group